Portable client devices are rapidly becoming more complex as they incorporate new functions. For example, some personal digital assistants (“PDA”) and cellular telephones now include cameras, music players, and even Global Positioning System (“GPS”) navigation in addition to traditional calendar and contact management capabilities. These new functions have led to increases in storage capacity or memory in the portable devices so as to allow the devices to store larger numbers and types of data files. These new functions and memory capacities however have made it more difficult for users to interact with portable devices because of the requirement to navigate larger, more complex menu sets as well as larger and more diverse file collections.
This current generation of consumer devices supports information exchanges with other devices, often in the form of contact records, through infrared and radio frequency communication for example. This capability allows users to share information with other users. However, the combination of the increased storage capability and the complexity of device menus also increased the complexity of locating and selecting data in a device and initiating data transfers.
Sharing or exchanging data among portable devices is challenging because it involves both selection of data for transfer as well as the selection and configuration of a data transmission function. Conventional portable devices initiate data exchanges using a number of methods.
Some portable devices exchange information using infrared light. When users of theses devices exchange information via an infrared system, the users must align the infrared ports of two devices. One user must navigate to the information to be sent, and then select an option for sending the information by infrared. If the additional user also wishes to send information, the same type of interaction is required. Some portable devices streamline this exchange procedure by allowing the users to select and send a predetermined contact record by pressing and holding a particular button of their device.
Portable devices also support information transfers using radio frequency (“RF”) communication protocols. While this avoids any requirement for alignment of the devices, the users must navigate to the information to be sent, and select an option for sending the data as with an infrared transfer. Furthermore, each user must correctly select the intended destination device from a list of nearby devices. Additionally, some portable devices must be “paired” to allow information exchange, where pairing requires that each device be given a matching passkey code.
While the typical portable devices allow for the exchange of information with other portable devices, the data exchange methods used are considered by many to be quite cumbersome in terms of the amount of user interaction required to initiate/execute an exchange. While research has been done on less cumbersome device interaction methods that use information of sensors in the execution of a data exchange, this research has not fully addressed selection of data for exchange, selection of exchange participants, and coordination of exchanges between devices to name a few.
In the drawings, the same reference numbers identify identical or substantially similar elements or acts. To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the Figure number in which that element is first introduced (e.g., element 100 is first introduced and discussed with respect to FIG. 1).